Music’s biggest stars gathered on the same stage at the same time yesterday afternoon to announce themselves as partial owners of Tidal, Jay Z’s recently acquired high-definition music streaming service.
During the official press conference, which was held at New York City’s Skylight and broadcast online, Jay Z was joined onstage by Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Kanye West, J. Cole, Usher, Daft Punk, Jason Aldean and more.
Calvin Harris and Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin joined the press conference via Skype.
Watch Beyoncé dance during the event!
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Alicia spoke on behalf of the group, and after each music star signed a “Declaration of Independence,” the event was over.
In an interview with Billboard, Jay Z revealed when he decided to get into the music streaming business.
Billboard: When did it first occur to you to get into the streaming business?
Jay Z: A year-and-a-half ago. We saw the movement and how everything was going and figured that this could possibly be the last music format that we see in this lifetime. We didn’t like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow and if, you know, the very least we did was make people wake up and try to improve the free vs. paid system, and promote fair trade, then it would be a win for us anyway.
Check out video of the press conference below.
